Before I begin this post, I want to take a moment and thank my team from Clinical Documentation Improvement at Baystate Health. They gave me an amazing gift. They took my dignity post from July 2020 to June 2021 and made it into a book called “Dignity Friday Reflections: Memoirs written by Charles Redd, RN.” This gift truly touched me in ways I cannot describe but more than that it was the personal notes they wrote to me that truly touched my heart. I want you all to know that you made me a better person and a better leader. What we were able to accomplish as a team was amazing and you will always be a part of me and all my successes.
Today is the start of National Nurses Week. I have always taken a moment during this week to reflect on my career as a nurse. These last two years have been challenging. Nurses have been struggling and it has caused many to think about leaving the profession and many have. There have been times in my career that I thought about a change but here I still stand as a proud nurse, a proud professional, and leader. We have been pushed to the limits and beyond since March 2020. We have seen things that will leave a lasting mark on our hearts and minds. Through all the tragedy and triumphs, it has been the face of the nurse that has led the way. We held the hands of the dying when families could not be there. We led the cheers when the patients won their 80, 90, 100-day battle with COVID. We showed up every day even though we knew the risk because we knew our most vulnerable needed us.
Please understand I am not saying that nurses did it all by themselves. It took a team of doctors, environmental services, radiology, lab, nursing assistants, and many more to care for our patients. I am focusing today on nurses because I am one and this is nurse’s week. I worry about my profession. I feel for the struggles of the frontline nurses as they are asked to do more with less. I struggle to try and find the right words to make things better. I am saddened when I see a great nurse leave because I know the difficult decision that person had to make to leave the profession that they love.
During these challenges how do we celebrate nursing? What dignity has taught me is that not only do we support self-care but that we listen. We need to hear what nurses are saying and what their challenges are. We need to make them part of the solutions and the planning. Handing out gifts is great but the most lasting gift you can give is to honor dignity by honoring inclusion, acknowledgement, understanding, safety, acceptance, fairness, responsiveness, and giving the benefit of the doubt.
I learned from the Clinical Documentation team that when you honor dignity it is the greatest gift you can give. It changes how you communicate and how you work together.
I want to say thank you to the millions of nurses out there. This is for the nurses that continue to work, the nurses who have retired or changed careers. Please know that you have made a difference and I salute you.
“You don’t have to be in a boxing ring to be a great fighter. As long as you are true to yourself, you will succeed in your fight for that in which you believe.” – Muhammad Ali
Charles Redd RN
Dignity Freedom Fighter
Dignity Freedom Fighter 